Great finds!

I have been spending a lot of time researching different finishes and fixtures for the home.  I usually choose a specific something, then read articles, forums and reviews to try and get the best product for the smallest price. Usually that just means cruising KSL till I find the deal I'm after, or comparing prices online. And can I just tell you? It is so very satisfying to get an incredible product for an incredible price! I'm kind of addicted.

My recent finds have been:

• A 9 foot vanity with white Corian countertops, 2 under-mount sinks and faucets for only $100. The white Corain countertop alone would have been $900 new. This will go in our master bathroom.
• 50 sq ft of new white Carrara marble for $1.75 a sq ft- normally at least $10 a sq ft.
• A vintage claw foot tub that looks almost brand new for $150 - worth $600-$1200.  Again, for our master bathroom.
• Full overlay kitchen cabinets for the basement apartment for $600- we will refinish them which will be a ton of work but will save us over $3,000. 
• FREE black quartz countertops that were from a rich family in Alpine. They were going to throw them away, then thought someone might want them. These are worth at least $2000! I haven't decided for sure where I'll use them but they will be fabulous :)

And my latest find is this:

It's the Grohe Bridgeford kitchen faucet. Retail is $550 and I snagged two of them,

brand new, for $95 and $120. This is a very nice faucet, even more high-end than Moen and I can't

tell you how excited I am about doing dishes with this bad boy! 

See how beautiful bridgeford faucets are in the kitchen?

Ha! I am a complete dork, you guys. But at least I'll be a dork with a beautiful kitchen faucet :)

Shut the front door!

As I mentioned earlier, the more I delve into house-building stuff, the more I realize how difficult it's going to be to stay on budget. Don't get me wrong, our budget is plenty big to get everything we have ever dreamed of in our house, but when you start shopping around, you realize that you could easily blow your entire door budget, for example, on a single door! Front doors, specifically, can easily run you $4,000+. Who knew doors could be that expensive?! Or anything for that matter; tile, light fixtures, ranges... the list goes on. Our budget for doors on the entire house is $2,800, so you can see how it would create problems if we decided to get an expensive front door.

If you know anything about me, you know I love to get a good deal. I shop our local KSL classifieds religiously and 90% of the furnishings in our home are bought there. I have been doing the same shopping for our new house! There are certain items that, when used,  lose almost none of their original integrity, but go down considerably in cost- doors are one of those :)

Say hello to our new front door! Don't let the picture fool you, this beauty is 42" wide and a full 8' tall. It's huge! This door was likely over $1,000 new and after a finish coat, it will look brand new again. Can you believe we purchased it for only $50?

I'm still trying to decide if I want to keep the wood grain or paint it. Our home is going to be gray or white hardiboard- similar to one of these two pics:

And I think it would be so fun to do a pop of color on the door. I'm thinking either mint 

green, kelly green or a dusty blue. 

I need your help! What do you think?

breaking ground

We broke ground on the new house yesterday! It's been a few months coming and we couldn't be

more thrilled. You hear over and over again that building a house always takes longer than expected

and always costs more than expected. We have already experienced both of these things and we

haven't even dug the hole yet :)

It is definitely going to be tricky to stay on budget. The thing about buying a house is there is one price

and you know it beforehand. With building, and especially when you are going the more DIY route,

there are a MILLION ways to go over-budget. You have to be much more disciplined and decide what

things are really important to spend a little more money on and what things are ok to save on.

About to start digging the first hole! Who needs a shovel when you have a track hoe?! 

So fun to think of the memories we will make here and how our little family will grow :)

Our lot! For those of you who don't know, it's in the Sleepy Ridge golf course, right by the lake in Orem/Vineyard. Our back yard is Vineyard and our lot's in Orem.

 Crew LOVED running the track hoe with grandpa and was so sad when it was time to go.

Cambridge loved all of the excitement too! 

While we were digging, one of the neighbors came out with her 5 children! Four boys ages 6 

and down, then a little girl that's the same age as Cambridge! One of her little boys was Crew's age, 

too and Crew and the boys got right to boy business; throwing dirt clods. I'm so excited to 

know there will be playmates for my little ones.

Since my Dad and my brother Austin are doing 90% of the work, it will likely take 6 months

to complete the home- but we're in no rush :) For now I've been spending a lot of time 

scouring our local KSL classifieds and Lance and I have some projects to start working on-

more on that in a later post! 

Finding a lot

If you are like a few of our friends, you will put one offer in on the house of your dreams and get it. End of story. If you are like Lance and I, your search for a home or a lot will take several months and be quite the roller coaster of emotions. Finding a lot wasn't easy and there were certainly some tears along the way (from me, not Lance) but now that we own our lot I would say it was entirely worth it!

The market for homes and especially lots is really odd right now. Because of the bad economy, developers stopped developing for the most part. Which means improved lots were few and far between. When we initially started looking and found nothing desirable in our price range, we started exploring other avenues and tried to think outside the box. Here are a few of things we did and that you might consider if you are looking for land as well:

• Purchasing a couple acres of undeveloped land and developing it. This option is a lot easier if you know someone who can develop, but if not just look around! Talk to friends and family and see if anyone knows of a developer that might be willing to partner with you. You can save A LOT of money going this route- to the tune of 50-100k. It may seem intimidating at first, but don't limit yourself to what is "normal".
• Hitting the ground. Lance and I spent a lot of time driving around the neighborhoods we liked. There were a surprising amount of lots that were for sale, but weren't listed on the MLS. 
• Search the classifieds. We spent a lot of time searching KSL, our local classified website. The lots and homes listed there were typically a few thousand dollars cheaper because the seller wasn't having to pay a commission to a real estate agent. 
• Search land records. Most cities and counties have all of their land records available to the public online. Our county even had an ipad app that was easy to navigate and would show parcel numbers and the owner's name real time. We browsed the areas we loved and sent out letters, asking if anyone would be interested in selling their land. 
• Spread the word. You'd be surprised how helpful friends and family are when they find out you are looking for a home or land. You never know who might come across the lot of your dreams! This is how we ultimately found our lot; a good friend in our neighborhood was in contact with a few investors that were willing to sell their lots off-market. 

Again, this journey of building a home was entirely foreign to me in the beginning and my hope is that someone else can learn from our experience.

Free Cupcakes

On Saturday, Lance and I decided on a whim to make a video for this little contest. The winner receives free cupcakes for a year! Crew is at the perfect age where he will repeat anything you say and he is so animated about it- so we figured it would be a fun little family activity for us.

Our video really is the best one, but then we found out the winner is decided by the amount of views, comments and likes- I really hate to promote things like this, but the video really is a fun watch and it's only 45 seconds. Please help us win :)

Make sure to leave a comment or a "like".

Thanks a million!

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